Groundwater elevation monitoring results in an eastern WA montane meadow one and two-years post meadow restoration efforts

Montane meadows provide a variety of valuable services to a watershed. This is particularly true in semi-arid watersheds such as those on the east side of the Cascade Mountains. There are nearly 900 meadow areas on the Yakama Indian Reservation in Central Washington - most are located in the headwaters of important salmon-bearing streams. Several of the meadow areas have been negatively impacted by grazing, logging, road building, etc. that initiated approximately 175 years ago. In 2015-2016 Yakama Nation Fisheries contracted Inter-Fluve to undertake a geomorphic/hydrologic assessment of an 800-acre meadow complex known as Starvation Flats. This meadow complex was identified as culturally and ecologically significant by Yakama Nation resource managers for downstream fisheries (water quantity and quality) and localized native plant foods. Starvation Flats rests at about 3,400 ft elevation. Impacts to the meadow from grazing and land-use practices include channel extension and incision, cryptogramic crust loss, soil loss, reduced water and soil retention in the meadow, and notably reduced populations of culturally significant plant foods. In 2017 the first (pilot) meadow restoration project was constructed as part of a long-term restoration strategy. This paper presents groundwater monitoring data from the summer months pre and both one and two years after construction. Local precipitation data is evaluated in conjunction to compare inputs relative to groundwater data. These preliminary data indicate that restoration efforts at this site have already improved meadow function by increasing water and soil retention which has raised summer-time groundwater elevations, even with reduced annual precipitation values. This paper also discusses the conditions that support meadow recovery at this site.